During classical antiquity, the Kushite imperial capital was located at Meroe. In early Greek geography, the Meroitic kingdom was known as Aethiopia. The Kushite kingdom with its capital at Meroe persisted until the 4th century AD, when it weakened and disintegrated due to internal rebellion. The seat was eventually captured and burnt to the ground by the Kingdom of Aksum.

It is also an ethnic term for the native population who initiated the kingdom of Kush. The term is also displayed in the names of Kushite persons,[8] such as King Kashta (a transcription of k3š-t3 "(one from) the land of Kush"). Geographically, Kush referred to the region south of the first cataract in general. Kush also was the home of the rulers of the 25th dynasty.[9]

The name Kush, since at least the time of Josephus, has been connected with the biblical character Cush, in the Hebrew Bible (Hebrew: כוש), son of Ham (Genesis 10:6). Ham had four sons named: Cush, Put, Canaan and Mizraim (Hebrew name for Egypt). According to the Bible, Nimrod, a son of Cush, was the founder and king of Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar (Gen 10:10).[10] The Bible also makes reference to someone named Cush who is a Benjamite (Psalms 7:1, KJV).[11]

Mentuhotep II (21st century BC founder of the Middle Kingdom) is recorded to have undertaken campaigns against Kush in the 29th and 31st years of his reign. This is the earliest Egyptian reference to Kush; the Nubian region had gone by other names in the Old Kingdom.[14]

During the New Kingdom of Egypt, Nubia (Kush) was an Egyptian colony, from the 16th century BC governed by an Egyptian Viceroy of Kush. With the disintegration of the New Kingdom around 1070 BC, Kush became an independent kingdom centered at Napata in modern northern Sudan.[15]

The Kushites buried their monarchs along with all their courtiers in mass graves. Archaeologists refer to these practices as the "Pan-grave culture".[16] This was given its name due to the way in which the remains are buried. They would dig a pit and put stones around them in a circle.[17] Kushites also built burial mounds and pyramids, and shared some of the same gods worshiped in Egypt, especially Ammon and Isis. With the worshiping of these gods the Kushites began to take some of the names of the gods as their throne names.[9]

The Kush rulers were regarded as guardians of the state religion and were responsible for maintaining the houses of the gods.[18] Some scholars[who?] believe the economy in the Kingdom of Kush was a redistributive system. The state would collect taxes in the form of surplus produce and would redistribute to the people. Others believe that most of the society worked on the land and required nothing from the state and did not contribute to the state. Northern Kush seemed to be more productive and wealthier than the Southern area.[18]

Under Tuthmosis I, Egypt made several campaigns south.[19] This eventually resulted in their annexation of Nubia circa 1504 BC. After the conquest, Kerma culture was increasingly Egyptianized, yet rebellions continued for 220 years until c.1300 BC. During the New Kingdom, Nubia nevertheless became a key province of the Egyptian Empire, economically, politically and spiritually. Indeed, major Pharonic ceremonies were held at Jebel Barkal near Napata.[20] The royal lineages of the two regions also seem to have intermarried. The extent of cultural/political continuity between the Kerma culture and the chronologically succeeding Kingdom of Kush is difficult to determine. The more Egyptianized Kingdom of Kush emerged, possibly from Kerma, and regained the region's independence from Egypt. The latter polity began to emerge around 1000 BCE, 500 years after the end of the Kingdom of Kerma. Initially, the Kushite kings continued to use Kerma for royal burials and special ceremonies, pointing to some connection. Moreover, the layout of royal funerary compounds in both Kerma and Napata (the Kush capital) are similarly designed. Caches of statues of Kush's pharaohs have also been discovered at Kerma, suggesting that the Napatan rulers recognized a historic link between their capital and Kerma.

Resistance to the early eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian rule by neighbouring Kush is evidenced in the writings of Ahmose, an Egyptian warrior who served under Nebpehtrya Ahmose (1539-1514 BC), Djeserkara Amenhotep I (1514-1493 BC) and Aakheperkara Thutmose I (1493-1481 BC). At the end of the Second Intermediate Period (mid sixteenth century BC), Egypt faced the twin existential threats—the Hyksos in the North and the Kushites in the South. Taken from the autobiographical inscriptions on the walls of his tomb-chapel, the Egyptians undertook campaigns to defeat Kush and conquer Nubia under the rule of Djeserkara Amenhotep I (1514-1493 BC). In Ahmose's writings, the Kushites are described as bowmen, "Now after his Majesty had slain the Bedoin of Asia, he sailed upstream to Upper Nubia to destroy the Nubian bowmen."[22] The tomb writings contain two other references to the Nubian bowmen of Kush.

In 945 BC, Sheshonq I and Libyan princes took control of the Ancient Egyptian delta and founded the so-called Libyan or Bubastite dynasty, which would rule for some 200 years. Sheshonq also gained control of southern Egypt by placing his family members in important priestly positions. In 711, King Sheshonq made Memphis his northern capital.[24] However, Libyan control began to erode as a rival dynasty in the delta arose in Leontopolis and Kushites threatened from the south.

Why the Kushites chose to enter Egypt at this crucial point of foreign domination is subject to debate. Archaeologist Timothy Kendall offers his own hypotheses, connecting it to a claim of legitimacy associated with Gebel Barkal.[26] Kendall cites the Victory Stele of Piye at Gebel Barkal, which states that "Amun of Napata granted me to be ruler of every foreign country," and "Amun in Thebes granted me to be ruler of the Black Land (Kmt)". According to Kendall, "foreign lands" in this regard seems to include Lower Egypt while "Kmt" seems to refer to a united Upper Egypt and Nubia.[26]

Piye was defeated by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V and then his successor Sargon II in the 720's BC. Piye's son Taharqa enjoyed some minor initial success in his attempts to regain Egyptian influence in the Near East. He aided King Hezekiah from attack by Sennacherib and the Assyrians (2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9), however disease among the besieging Assyrian army appears to have been the main cause of failure to take Jerusalem rather than any military setback, and Assyrian records indicate Hezekiah was forced to pay tribute. The Assyrian King Sennacherib then defeated Taharqa and drove the Nubians and Egyptians from the region and back over the Sinai into Egypt.

The power of the 25th Dynasty reached a climax under Taharqa. The Nile valley empire was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom. New prosperity[27] revived Egyptian culture.[28] Religion, the arts, and architecture were restored to their glorious Old, Middle, and New Kingdom forms. The Nubian pharaohs built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, and Jebel Barkal.[29] It was during the 25th dynasty that the Nile valley saw the first widespread construction of pyramids (many in modern Sudan) since the Middle Kingdom.[30][31][32]Writing was introduced to Kush in the form of the Egyptian-influenced Meroitic script circa 700–600 BC, although it appears to have been wholly confined to the royal court and major temples.[33]

Between 674 and 671 BC the Assyrians, tiring of Egyptian meddling, began their invasion of Egypt under King Esarhaddon, the successor of Sennacherib. Assyrian armies had been the best in the world since the 14th century BC, and conquered this vast territory with surprising speed. Taharqa was driven from power by Esarhaddon, and fled to his Nubian homeland. Esarhaddon describes "installing local kings and governors" and "All Ethiopians I deported from Egypt, leaving not one to do homage to me".

However, the native Egyptian vassal rulers installed by Esarhaddon as puppets were unable to effectively retain full control for long without Assyrian aid. Two years later, Taharqa returned from Nubia and seized control of a section of southern Egypt as far north as Memphis from Esarhaddon's local vassals. Esarhaddon prepared to return to Egypt and once more eject Taharqa, however he fell ill and died in his capital Nineveh, before he left Assyria. His successor, Ashurbanipal, sent a Turtanu (general) with a small but well trained army which once more defeated Taharqa and ejected him from Egypt, and he was forced to flee back to his homeland in Nubia, where he died two years later.

Taharqa's successor Tanutamun attempted to regain Egypt. He successfully defeated Necho, the subject ruler installed by Ashurbanipal, taking Thebes in the process. The Assyrians, who had a military presence in the north, then sent a large army southwards. Tantamani was routed, and the Assyrian army sacked Thebes to such an extent it never truly recovered. Tantamani was chased back to Nubia, and never threatened the Assyrian Empire again. A native Egyptian ruler, Psammetichus I, was placed on the throne, as a vassal of Ashurbanipal.[27][34]

Aspelta moved the capital to Meroë, considerably farther south than Napata, possibly in 591 BC.[35] It is also possible that Meroë had always been the Kushite capital.

Historians believe that the Kushite rulers may have chosen Meroë as their home because, unlike Napata, the region around Meroë had enough woodlands to provide fuel for iron working. In addition, Kush was no longer dependent on the Nile to trade with the outside world; they could instead transport goods from Meroë to the Red Sea coast, where Greek merchants were now traveling extensively.

The Kushites used the animal-driven water wheel to increase productivity and create a surplus, particularly during the Napatan-Meroitic Kingdom.[36]

In about 300 BC the move to Meroë was made more complete when the monarchs began to be buried there, instead of at Napata. One theory is that this represents the monarchs breaking away from the power of the priests at Napata. According to Diodorus Siculus, a Kushite king, "Ergamenes", defied the priests and had them slaughtered. This story may refer to the first ruler to be buried at Meroë with a similar name such as Arqamani,[37] who ruled many years after the royal cemetery was opened at Meroë. During this same period, Kushite authority may have extended some 1,500 km along the Nile River valley from the Egyptian frontier in the north to areas far south of modern Khartoum and probably also substantial territories to the east and west.[38]

Kushite civilization continued for several centuries. In the Napatan Period Egyptian hieroglyphs were used: at this time writing seems to have been restricted to the court and temples.[39] From the 2nd century BC there was a separate Meroitic writing system.[39] This was an alphabetic script with 23 signs used in a hieroglyphic form (mainly on monumental art) and in a cursive form.[39] The latter was widely used; so far some 1278 texts using this version are known (Leclant 2000). The script was deciphered by Griffith, but the language behind it is still a problem, with only a few words understood by modern scholars.[39] It is not as yet possible to connect the Meroitic language with other known languages.[39]

Strabo describes a war with the Romans in the 1st century BC. After the initial victories of Kandake (or "Candace") Amanirenas against Roman Egypt, the Kushites were defeated and Napata sacked.[40] Remarkably, the destruction of the capital of Napata was not a crippling blow to the Kushites and did not frighten Candace enough to prevent her from again engaging in combat with the Roman military. Indeed, it seems that Petronius's attack might have had a revitalizing influence on the kingdom. Just three years later, in 22 BC, a large Kushite force moved northward with intention of attacking Qasr Ibrim.[41]:149

Alerted to the advance, Petronius again marched south and managed to reach Qasr Ibrim and bolster its defences before the invading Kushites arrived. Although the ancient sources give no description of the ensuing battle, we know that at some point the Kushites sent ambassadors to negotiate a peace settlement with Petronius. By the end of the second campaign, however, Petronius was in no mood to deal further with the Kushites.[41]:149 The Kushites succeeded in negotiating a peace treaty on favourable terms[40] and trade between the two nations increased.[41]:149 Some historians like Theodore Mommsen wrote that during Augustus times Nubia was a possible client state of the Roman Empire.

It is possible that the Roman emperor Nero planned another attempt to conquer Kush before his death in AD 68.[41]:150–151 Kush began to fade as a power by the 1st or 2nd century AD, sapped by the war with the Roman province of Egypt and the decline of its traditional industries.[42] Christianity began to gain over the old pharaonic religion and by the mid-sixth century AD the Kingdom of Kush was dissolved.[18]

Stamp or thumb ring in the form of 3 cartouches (enclosing dot pattern). Each topped with 2 plumes and sun disc. Faience. From Meroe. Meroitic period. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

The Meroitic language was spoken in Meroë and the Sudan during the Meroitic period (attested from 300 BC). It became extinct about 400 AD. The language was written in two forms of the Meroitic alphabet: Meroitic cursive, which was written with a stylus and was used for general record-keeping; and Meroitic Hieroglyphic, which was carved in stone or used for royal or religious documents. It is not well understood due to the scarcity of bilingual texts. The earliest inscription in Meroitic writing dates from between 180–170 BC. These hieroglyphics were found engraved on the temple of Queen Shanakdakhete. Meroitic Cursive is written horizontally, and reads from right to left like all Semitic orthographies.[43]

By the 3rd century BC, a new indigenous alphabet, the Meroitic, consisting of twenty-three letters, replaced Egyptian script. The Meroitic script is an alphabetic script originally derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs which was used to write the Meroitic language of the Kingdom of Meroë/Kush. It was developed in the Napatan Period (about 700–300 BC), and first appears in the 2nd century BC. For a time, it was also possibly used to write the Nubian language of the successor Nubian kingdoms.[44]

It is uncertain to which language family the Meroitic language is related. Claude Rilly has proposed that it, like the Nobiin language, belongs to the Eastern Sudanic branch of the Nilo-Saharan family.[45][46] Kirsty Rowan suggests that Meroitic, like the Egyptian language, instead belongs to the Afro-Asiatic family. She bases this on its sound inventory and phonotactics, which are similar to those of the Afro-Asiatic languages and dissimilar from those of the Nilo-Saharan languages.[47][48]

On account of the Kingdom of Kush's proximity to Ancient Egypt — the first cataract at Elephantine usually being considered the traditional border between the two polities — and because the 25th dynasty ruled over both states in the 8th century BC, from the Rift Valley to the Taurus mountains, historians have closely associated the study of Kush with Egyptology, in keeping with the general assumption that the complex sociopolitical development of Egypt's neighbors can be understood in terms of Egyptian models.[49] As a result, the political structure and organization of Kush as an independent ancient state has not received as thorough attention from scholars, and there remains much ambiguity especially surrounding the earliest periods of the state. Edwards[49] has suggested that study of the region could benefit from increased recognition of Kush as a state in its own right, with distinct cultural conditions, rather than merely as a secondary state on the periphery of Egypt.